STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A lovelorn former high school teacher who mooned over her 15-year-old male student should only be punished with an unpaid, 90-day suspension, the state Appellate Division decided.

In a 3-2 ruling this week, the court sided with an arbitrator, and said firing Colleen McGraham, who taught honors English at New Dorp High School, was too harsh a penalty, considering she merely expressed "romantic" feelings toward the student. To say she would have started a physical relationship with him is only speculation, according to court documents.

However, the ruling may be beside the point: Ms. McGraham has quit her teaching career, reportedly to become a professional poker player.

City officials said she was terminated in 2009 when her teaching certificate expired.

Colleen McGraham reportedly has abandoned academia in favor of professional poker.

Ms. McGraham, who was 36 at the time of the 2005 infatuation, sent numerous e-mails and instant messages to the 11th-grader and mused in an online diary about wanting to be with him.

In one instance, in May 2005, she wrote: "Today at one point he was standing behind me so close I could feel the heat from his body radiate to me. I wanted to just let myself go, lean backwards and sink into him."

At one point, she lent him a copy of "Harold and Maude," a film about a relationship between a teenage boy and an older woman.

The student complained about the teacher in June 2005 after becoming increasingly disturbed by her comments in class and e-mails. He told another teacher, who then reported the behavior, papers say.

Since then, Ms. McGraham, who was also an adviser for the poetry and theater clubs, of which the student was a member, has sought therapy and appeared to learn a lesson from her ordeal, court papers show. She "could be trusted once again to teach students."

When an arbitrator suggested only a suspension, the city pressed for a harsher penalty.

The two dissenting voters in the recent ruling said there is no proof she would behave appropriately if she was put back in the classroom.

"An educator must be in control of her emotions and respect the boundaries required by her privileged position," papers say.

City officials weren’t happy with the ruling, either.

"We are disappointed with the decision and will be filing an appeal," said Stephen McGrath, deputy chief of the New York City Law Department.